Chris Christie's Final Debate Answer Was a Google Winner

Gov. Chris Christie "As far as being an outsider is concerned -- as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey."

Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie may not have won CNN's prime-time debate on Wednesday in terms of the most time spent talking or the most Google searches overall (both of those awards go to Donald Trump), but he did finish up with an answer that saw a big spike in search traffic, according to data from Google.

Google's interactive replay of searches of the candidates throughout the debate showed Christie, the governor of New Jersey, hovering in the lower tier of the 11-person field throughout the debate, and, toward the end, at the second-to-last spot. Then, when he gave his final answer, he surged to first place.

The question asked the candidates was how the world would look different after they each left office, if they were elected.

Google Trends

“I turned 18 in 1980 and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy am I glad I did it,” Christie said. “A Christie presidency won't be about me. It'll be about you. Tonight you sit at home in your living room frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind.”

In the same answer, Christie moved on to foreign policy, ending with a hard line on Iran.

“And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them,” he said. “It will be an America that will be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, 'We truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day.'”